World Series of Poker Quickie: 6/12/08

The Wynn Tries to Lure Cash Game Players by Offering a Shot at $100,000

With so much poker action taking place around Las Vegas, some casinos are feeling the financial pinch. With juicy action at the Rio, Bellagio, and the Venetian, some poker rooms are finding it hard to draw players to fill their poker rooms. This has brought some unique promotions and good bargains for poker players who are trying to find the best place to play. One interesting idea comes from the Wynn. Players have until the end of the month (June 30) to log 50 hours of play to qualify for a freeroll that will take place July1-2, 2008. The top ten finishers of the freeroll will receive $10,000 each.

                          

Who Wants a Piece of the World Poker Tour?

While the world’s attention is focused on the World Series of Poker and its global marketing machine, another one of poker’s biggest success stories is currently looking for a new outlet. The World Poker Tour’s contract with GSN recently ended and the company is currently without a network deal.

 

Poker website PocketFives.com speculates that the WPT has several networks that might be interested in picking up one the show. Early speculation is that ESPN may be considering a move that would pair the WPT programming with the WSOP action, but ESPN executives have yet to comment on the possibility. 

 

Erick Lindgren Continues to Make Me Sound like a Stud

Since the start of this year’s WSOP, I’ve been saying that Erick Lindgren was going to win the Player of the Year. So far, he is making me look like a genius. The Las Vegas resident continued his monstrous 2008 WSOP run yesterday by making his second final table in the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw w/ Rebuys (Event #18). Lindgren went on to finish in fourth place, collecting $156,151 for his play.

 

With his fourth place finish, Lindgren overtakes early P.O.Y. candidate Theo Tran by beating Tran’s 2008 WSOP earnings ($535,730) by $9,701. Lindgren has made the WSOP his personal ATM machine, collecting $545,431. Even if Tran collects another big payday, if he does not win a bracelet, it would be very difficult to pick him for P.O.Y. over the Full Tilt pro.

Listen to Yourself

Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity. This moment of honesty. The world will feel my truths.

Jay-Z

 

There is no good or evil. There is no black or white. There are just hazy shades of grey that constantly change tones and hues based on the person who is interpreting them. By recognizing that your emotions can have a deep impact upon your judgments and by being openly critical of your actions, you can shift from letting emotions dictate your experience to taking a “God-like” control.

 

This does not mean that you can sit idly by while time passes and expect the universe to bend to your wishes and provide you with easy solutions to your difficult questions, but it does mean that if you use your faculties to decipher what is important to you on your journey and you can then take steps to accomplish those goals.

 

You can’t jab a vein or smoke your way to find this reality, as those effects are only temporary and ultimately don’t provide any kind of tangible result. Finding inner peace is forever and it’s a mindset that one must cultivate and nurture if a they want to find tranquility. 

 

Ask yourself what matters? Is it money, cars, and sex? Or is it passion, love, or giving back? Ask yourself if you deserve to have it all (and we all do) and then examine the folks who tell you that can’t. We often don’t find complete refuge from our ego-based desires, but it is possible to satisfy the majority of needs that are really important to us.

 

Once we recognize what matters, life becomes a fulfilling journey and much more enjoyable. In other words, if you are true to yourself, you can live life with enthusiasm and find joy in the smallest thing. 

 

In essence, your ability to be honest with yourself will help determine your future happiness. Look at your beliefs and figure out which are grounded in reality and which are figments of your imagination. Take time to figure out what really matters to you. Ultimately, we only fool ourselves when we deny our living truths.

 

 

Spike Lee vs Clint Eastwood

Image details: Warner Home Video Celebrates The Release Of “Dirty Harry” – Arrivals served by picapp.com

Rappers aren’t the only ones in the entertainment indsutry who have beef. When it comes to making a movie that are based on history, the people behind the scenes often take creative license and change things to suit their needs. Spike Lee recently accused film legend Clint Eastwood of following this pattern and he criticized Eastwood for the lack of African-Americans in Eastwood’s films including his Iwo Jimma flick Flag of Our Fathers. “That was his version. The negro version did not exist,” said Lee in an interview with newspaper The Guardian.

 

Eastwood, who has never been one to hold back his feelings, quickly responded to the Do the Right Thing director’s comments and questioned whether Lee was sure about his history. “Yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jimma as part of a munitions company, but they didn’t raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn’t do that. If  I go ahead and put an Afrincan-American actor in there, people’s go, ‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate,” said Eastwood.

 

This isn’t the first time Lee has had a war of words with Eastwood. Lee criticized Eastwood’s biopic of jazz legend Charlie Parker called Bird. “He was complaining when I did Bird. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that’s why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else,” said Eastwood.

 

Ironically, Eastwood’s next project is The Human Factor, is a story about Nelson Mandela and how he used the country’s victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup to foster national unity.

 

Lee’s comments angered Eastwood so much that the Dirty Harry actor commented, “A guy like him should shut his face.”

 

I know Eastwood is old, but I still think he might be able to kick the pint-sized Lee’s ass.

Pearl Jam and Verizon?

Former anti-establishment alternative rockers Pearl Jam recently stuck a deal with phone/Internet/television company Verizon. The new agreement partners Eddie Vedder and the boys with Verizon’s “V Cast.” Pearl Jam fans will be able to download three approved tracks from each of the group’s concerts starting with their recent kick-off show at West Palm Beach.  

 

This promotion is the group’s way of reviving its long-standing tradition of bootlegging tracks for fans. The group will also make the tracks available on Pearl Jam’s website two weeks after each show. The songs will be available in MP3 and Flac.

 

As a special bonus for Jam fans, this is the first time that fans can purchase “live” CDs from each of the shows. The discs will ship within three weeks of the live shows.